Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves.
Parallel translations
- WEB doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;
- KJV Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
- NKJV Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.
- NASB Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves;
- NLT Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Do nothing from rivalry or conceit; in humility consider others better than yourself. Humility is the antidote to division.
Overview
Selfish ambition and vanity are named as the great threats to unity. The remedy is humility, a quality the surrounding culture despised but the gospel honors. Counting others more significant than oneself reflects the mind of Christ Paul is about to display.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Rom 12:10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Outdo yourselves in honoring one another.
- Gal 5:26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying one another.
- Eph 5:21Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
- Eph 4:2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
- 1 Pet 5:5Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
- Jas 3:14–16But if you harbor bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast in it or deny the truth.
- Jas 4:5–6Or do you think the Scripture says without reason that the Spirit He caused to dwell in us yearns with envy?
- Phil 2:14Do everything without complaining or arguing,
- Luke 18:14I tell you, this man, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
- Gal 5:15But if you keep on biting and devouring one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.
- 1 Tim 6:4he is conceited and understands nothing. Instead, he has an unhealthy interest in controversies and semantics, out of which come envy, strife, abusive talk, evil suspicions,
- Prov 13:10Arrogance leads only to strife, but wisdom is with the well-advised.
- Col 3:8But now you must put aside all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
- Luke 14:7–11When Jesus noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, He told them a parable:
- 1 Pet 2:1–2Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander.
- 2 Cor 12:20For I am afraid that when I come, I may not find you as I wish, and you may not find me as you wish. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, rage, rivalry, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder.
- 1 Cor 3:3for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man?
- Phil 1:15–17It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill.
- 1 Cor 15:9For I am the least of the apostles and am unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
- Gal 5:20–21idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions,
- Rom 13:13Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The one who, being in the form of God, emptied himself to the point of death on a cross and was exalted to the name above every name — the joy and prize of the believer.
How Philippians 2:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.